IN the first edition of this work, we announced our intention to publish a Supplement treating
of points for which it had been impossible to find room in that edition, or which might be
suggested by subsequent investigations ; but the new matter proved to be so closely
connected with what had been previously published as to render its publication in a separate
volume inexpedient. We therefore preferred to await the reprinting of the work, taking
advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to fuse the whole of the materials together, to
supress redundancies, and to make a more methodical arrangement of its contents. This new
edition may consequently be considered as a new work, although the principles originally laid
down have undergone no change, excepting in a very few instances which will be found to
constitute complements and explanations rather than modifications.

This conformity of the teachings transmitted, notwithstanding the diversity of the sources
from which they have emanated, is a fact of great importance in relation to the establishment
of spiritist doctrine. Our correspondence shows us, moreover, that communications, identical
(in substance, if not in form) with those embodied in the present work, have been obtained in
various quarters, and even, in some instances, previously to the publication of THE SPIRITS’
BOOK, which has served to systematise and to confirm them. History, on the other hand,
proves that most of the ideas herein set forth have been held by the most eminent thinkers of
ancient and of modern times, and thus gives to them the additional sanction of its testimony.